1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring control apparatus that performs monitoring and control of a robot and so forth as well as incorporation of data and so forth gathered by sensors, and more particularly, to a monitoring control apparatus that performs monitoring and control of a robot or other target of monitoring and control as well as incorporation of data and so forth while monitoring the operating status of a board that supports the boundary scan test method using a boundary scan controller board.
2. Explanation of the Prior Art
In a monitoring control apparatus that monitors and controls a robot and so forth, if a malfunction occurs for some reason in the CPU board or various types of control boards provided within the monitoring control apparatus, since the robot may run out of control or stop operating, when manufacturing the CPU board or various other types of control boards, the quality of the board is evaluated using a method such as an in-circuit test. Moreover, when monitoring and controlling a robot by assembling the CPU board or various other types of control boards as well, the quality of the various types of control boards is periodically checked by a CPU board and so forth to prevent the occurrence of problems caused by malfunctions of the hardware.
However, the most commonly employed testing method at present for inspecting the quality of each board that composes a monitoring control apparatus is the in-circuit test method in which a pin cushion or similar object like that used for inserting cut flowers is placed against the pattern surface of the board to test the printed pattern that composes each board.
However, despite increases in the number of pins due to higher levels of integration and so forth of the IC loaded on the board, packages are becoming increasingly compact due to the demand for high-density mounting and so forth. Consequently, as shown in FIG. 22, the pin interval of IC 103 loaded on board 102 (for example, 0.66 mm) is narrower than the diameter of test pin 101 (for example, 0.8 mm) used in the in-circuit test method. Thus, the number of boards 102 on which testing like that according to the in-circuit test method cannot actually be performed is increasing.
In addition, since monitoring and control of a robot is performed while checking the quality of various types of control boards and so forth by a CPU board and so forth when monitoring and controlling a robot by assembling a CPU board and various types of control boards as well, in addition to sacrificing some of the performance of the CPU board, there is the problem of the robot running out of control and so forth when some type of abnormality occurs in the CPU board and so forth.
Therefore, as a way of solving these types of problems, although a method has been proposed in which a dedicated monitoring board is provided independent from the CPU board and the operating state of the CPU board and various other types of control boards and so forth is monitored by this dedicated monitoring board, in test methods using this type of dedicated monitoring board, if the operational timing of the dedicated monitoring board is not set accurately, the monitoring operation of the dedicated monitoring board interferes with the monitoring and control operations of the CPU board and various types of control boards, which can cause the robot monitoring and control operations performed by the CPU board and various other types of control boards to stop.
In addition, in monitoring control systems that perform monitoring and control of a robot and so forth, control signals required for performing a specified operation are generated while determining the operating state of each part of the robot by incorporating signals output from various sensors provided in each part of the robot. These control signals are supplied to each actuator of the above-mentioned robot and the specified operation is performed by controlling each of these actuators.
At this time, if an abnormality occurs in any piece of hardware or software that composes the monitoring control system, since there is the risk of the robot running out of control and causing danger to persons in the surrounding areas, by testing the operating status of each part of the system with a self-check function of the CPU circuit or mutually monitoring the operation of each part of the system, including the CPU circuit, by composing a multi-CPU circuit, improper robot operation caused by abnormalities in any part of the hardware or bugs in the software can be prevented in advance.
However, in data processing systems such as the monitoring control system described above, since the presence or absence of malfunctions in devices provided in the periphery of the CPU circuit cannot be detected by a self-check function of the CPU circuit, there are many cases in which a multi-CPU circuit is composed to mutually monitor the operation of each part of the system, including the CPU circuit. When the system is composed in this manner, however, one of the plurality of CPU circuits performs monitoring and control of the robot, while the other CPU circuits only monitor the operating status within the system. Consequently, even if the number of CPU circuits is increased, robot monitoring and control performance cannot be improved while only resulting in the problem of increased system waste.
With this in mind, in order to eliminate this waste, although a monitoring control system has been proposed that periodically monitors the operating status of each part of the system while performing specified data processing by a single CPU circuit, even if this type of system configuration is employed, the only type of test method that allows the operating status of each part of the system to be checked is that which determines whether or not the correct data is read by reading and writing preset data for memory circuits and so forth provided in each part of the system by a CPU circuit.
Consequently, the operating status of each part of the system is unable to be tested in terms of individual integrated circuits provided in each part of the system or in terms of individual boards on which each of these integrated circuits is loaded. Thus, there is a strong desire to develop a monitoring control system that is able to detect operating status in terms of the individual integrated circuits provided in each part of the system or in terms of the individual boards on which each of these integrated circuits is loaded.
In addition, similar problems are found not only in these types of monitoring control systems, but also in, for example, data processing systems that perform normal data processing. Thus, there has also been a strong desire to develop a data processing system that is able to detect the operating status of each part of the system in terms of individual integrated circuits or individual boards on which each of these integrated circuits is loaded.
In addition, a type of communication system that connects each decentralized sensor module, each terminal apparatus and the host computer apparatus with a communication line is known in which a communication device is loaded on each sensor module, each terminal apparatus and within the host computer apparatus, and these communication devices are used to gather data obtained with each sensor module and so forth to set the detection conditions for each module and so forth.
However, in this type of communication system of the prior art, when the data obtained with the sensor of each sensor module is transmitted along the communication line, communication signals are generated as a result of the communication devices loaded on the sensor modules converting the above-mentioned data to be compatible with the communication protocol. These communication signals are then transmitted along the communication line. In addition, when the communication signals transmitted along the communication line from the host computer apparatus are incorporated, since the above-mentioned communication signals from the communication line are incorporated by the communication devices and converted into data which can be processed with the CPU based on the communication protocol, communication devices must be loaded on each sensor module, thus resulting in the problem in a corresponding increase in the production cost of each sensor module.
In addition, when performing serial communications between each sensor module and the host computer apparatus using this type of communication device, the data transfer rate ends up to be restricted to only several tens of Kbps so that when the data obtained from each sensor module is gathered or when setting the detection conditions for each sensor module, there is the problem of this requiring an excessive amount of time.
In consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, the object of the present invention, in a first aspect, is to provide a monitoring control apparatus that is able to check the operating status of a CPU board and various other types of control boards and evaluate their quality while still allowing the CPU board and various other types of control boards to operate even when the CPU board and various other types of control boards have been installed.
In addition, in a second aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring control apparatus that is able to prevent a robot and so forth controlled by this monitoring control apparatus from running out of control even when the CPU board of the monitoring control apparatus malfunctions.
In addition, in a third aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring control apparatus that is able to test the remaining boards to determine whether or not they are normal when the CPU board and so forth of the monitoring control apparatus has malfunctioned, thereby enabling it to determine the location of the abnormality by detecting the malfunction even if a plurality of boards malfunctions simultaneously.
In addition, in a fourth aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring control apparatus that is able to switch the priority of a boundary scan controller board even if a boundary scan controller board is installed for the CPU board and control board, thereby enabling it to switch off the boundary scan controller board when a boundary scan test by the above-mentioned boundary scan controller board is not necessary.
In addition, in a fifth aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system that is able to detect the operating status of each part of a system in terms of individual integrated circuits or in terms of individual boards on which each of these integrated circuits is loaded, thereby enabling it to prevent the occurrence of problems caused by hardware malfunctions or software bugs in advance.
In addition, in a sixth aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system that is able to detect the operating status of each part of the system in terms of individual integrated circuits or in terms of individual boards on which each of these integrated circuits is loaded without making the operator aware of the presence of a boundary scan test driver, thereby enabling it to prevent the occurrence of problems caused by hardware malfunctions or software bugs in advance.
In addition, in a seventh aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system that is able to perform an operational check of the CPU, status check of the I/O ports, status checks of various controllers, detection and correction of erroneous data and so forth, thereby enabling it to prevent the occurrence of problems caused by hardware malfunctions and software bugs in advance.
In addition, in eigth and ninth aspect, the object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that is able to connect various sensors and terminal apparatuses with a host computer apparatus without using a communication device, thereby enabling it to reduce the production cost of the overall system while also dramatically shortening the time required when gathering data obtained from each sensor module and each terminal apparatus or when setting detection conditions and data for each sensor module and each terminal apparatus by increasing the data transfer rate between the host computer apparatus and each sensor module and terminal apparatus and so forth up to a maximum of roughly 20 Mbps.